Change Management Lead

Who we are

Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.

The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.

About the role

As the Head of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), you will serve as the central authority for enterprise-wide change management, configuration control, and product traceability. You will maintain and ensure the growth and maturity of the unified systems that track every change, update, and release across core engineering, hardware, software, and field operations.

As a foundational leader, you will be the primary point of contact for the implementation, execution, and coordination of the PLM strategy. You are expected to build and grow this function as a scalable function within the organization, ensuring 100% traceability from early R&D through production and deployment.

This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Santa Clara, CA office!

What you'll do

- Strategic Leadership & Function Building: Lead a high-performing PLM and Configuration Management function. Serve as the primary enterprise point of contact and subject matter expert for all product lifecycle processes, cross-functional coordination, and change execution.

- End-to-End Traceability & Configuration Control: Ensure strict, complete traceability of all product configurations. Maintain single source of truth accuracy across the organization's critical documentation, processes, and releases.

- Cross-Functional Change Management: Oversee the enterprise Change Management process across hardware, software, and operations. Drive the Change Control Board (CCB) mandate, ensuring rigorous review, approval, and a seamless implementation of all matters of change requests across the whole organization.

- Unified Hardware, Software & Operations Integration: Ensure a unified lifecycle approach that bridges physical hardware releases, software deployments, and updates to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Ensure software releases are explicitly tied to compatible hardware revisions and operational protocols.

- Scalable Process Architecture: Design, document, and implement robust, scalable PLM processes tailored for a rapidly growing organization.

- Enterprise Tooling & Systems Integration: Lead the integration and continuous improvement of enterprise PLM software (e.g., Teamcenter, Windchill, Enovia, or Arena). Drive the integration of the PLM system with ERP systems for manufacturing/supply chain and QMS for compliance.

- Release Management Oversight: Serve as a key stakeholder in release management for production releases. Work closely with Systems Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, and Field Operations to ensure that all prerequisites, safety validations, and compliance requirements are met before new baseline releases are deployed.

- Compliance & Audit Readiness: Ensure all PLM processes support rigorous regulatory and safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262, UL 4600). Maintain an audit-ready posture for all configuration records, design histories, and operational procedure versions.

What we're looking for

- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline.

- Domain Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in Product Lifecycle Management, Configuration Management, or Systems Engineering within highly complex, safety-critical domains (e.g., autonomous vehicles, aerospace, robotics, medical devices).

- Leadership Experience: 5+ years of leadership experience managing PLM/Configuration Management functions and directing enterprise-wide engineering operations.

- Process Design: Proven track record of designing and implementing scalable change management processes across hardware, software, and operational teams in a growing organization.

- Systems Expertise: Deep administrative expertise with tier-1 enterprise PLM and ERP systems (e.g., Siemens Teamcenter, PTC Windchill, Dassault Enovia, SAP, Oracle).

- Technical Depth: Strong understanding of hardware/software dependencies, including experience managing Software Bills of Materials (SBOM) alongside physical hardware variants.

- Soft Skills: Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to act as the primary interface for complex cross-functional implementations.

Preferred Qualifications

- Certifications: Professional certification in Configuration Management (e.g., CM2 / CMII Comprehensive Certification).

- Industry Focus: Direct experience working within the automotive, autonomy, or commercial trucking spaces.

- Compliance Knowledge: Familiarity with automotive, aerospace, or autonomous systems regulatory frameworks and Quality Management Systems (QMS).

Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000

More about Gatik

Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the first and only company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.

We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy. By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.

Visit us at Gatik for more company information and Careers at Gatik for more open roles.

Notable News

- Forbes: Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/09/05/forget-robotaxis-upstart-gatik-sees-middle-mile-deliveries-as-the-path-to-profitable-avs/?sh=52b7a7866e61)

- Tech Brew: Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry (https://www.emergingtechbrew.com/stories/2024/09/06/gatik-ai-richard-steiner-regulations-av-industry)

- Business Wire: Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241008155613/en/Gatik-Paves-the-Way-for-Safe-Driverless-Operations-%E2%80%98Freight-Only%E2%80%99-at-Scale-with-Industry-First-Third-Party-Safety-Assessment-Framework)

- Auto Futures: Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS (https://www.autofutures.tv/news-features/autonomous-trucking-group-gatik-secures-investment-from-nippon-express-holdings/s/e125e5df-220b-42b6-b2df-754f54d602a9)

- Automotive News: Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning (https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report/gatik-prepares-launch-self-driving-trucks-scale)

- Forbes: Isuzu And Gatik Go All In To Scale Up Driverless Freight Services (https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2024/05/30/isuzu-and-gatik-go-all-in-to-scale-up-driverless-freight-services/)

- Bloomberg: Autonomous Vehicle Startup Takes Off by Picking Off Easier Routes (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-05-24/autonomous-vehicle-startup-takes-off-by-picking-off-easier-routes)

- Reuters: Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny (https://www.reuters.com/technology/driverless-vehicles-limited-routes-bump-along-despite-us-robotaxi-scrutiny-2023-12-13/)

Taking care of our team

At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.

We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.